Understanding the continuum of palliative care for patients and their caregivers.

We describe a process for assisting seriously ill patients and their caregivers in prioritizing their preferences for care during advanced illness. Thirty-two seriously ill patients and their caregivers participated in seven 90-minute focus groups conducted cross-sectionally in Denver, Colorado; San Francisco, California; and Washington State. Fourteen expert-defined end-of-life quality indicators were presented to each group, and quantitative unweighted rankings were obtained through patient and caregiver preferences.